For Dogs & their Peoples: Low-Sodium, Onion-Free Gravy & Vegetable Broth / Soup Stock
December 14th, 2009 12:04 pm by Kelly G.Since I received a copy of The Simple Little Vegan Dog Book for review, I’ve slowly been working my way through the recipes. I say “slowly” because I only cook meals for the dogs once every 5-7 days. There may be five of ‘em, but when you combine their weights, they only equal 2 or 3 medium- or large-sized dogs (or “real dogs,” as I jokingly call them).
Anyhow, I spent a good 1 1/2 hours in the kitchen last night; writing on Twitter, I noted that my mother did this damn near every night for nearly 20 years – how she lasted so long is beyond me. 16 hours later, and I’m still beat.
Why so intensive, you ask? The recipe – a canine Shepherd’s Pie dish – called for both low-salt, onion-free gravy and low-salt, onion-free vegetable broth, neither of which are staples easily found in the grocery store. I had to make each from scratch, so essentially I cooked three dishes last night. Add to this the fact that low-sodium, onion-free recipes are scarce, and – well, you can see where I’m going with this!
Since precious few vegans seem to be making their dog-kids gravy and veggie broth and/or sharing this culinary wisdom with the rest of the internets, I figured I’d record and share these recipes with y’all. The gravy is pretty straightforward; basically I adapted this recipe from eHow to make it low(er)-sodium and onion-free. It’s gravy, plain and simple, and is great for people and dogs alike.
The vegetable broth, on the other hand, was a little more complicated. Most of the DIY veggie broth recipes I found involve slow-cooking copious amounts of veggies, after which you strain the veggies from the broth, resulting in actual broth. What you’re supposed to do with the sad, soggy veggies, I know not. What I do know, however, is that I had neither the time nor the veggies to go this route. Instead, I relied upon spices and seasonings for the bulk of the flavor, and added in a few (non-disposable) veggies for extra flavor. In other words, my vegetable broth isn’t a broth, really, but more of a soup. Naturally, if you’re making a recipe that doesn’t involve chunks of veggies, this soup-broth won’t really work for you. But if you’re just going to mix a veggie broth with additional veggies (such as with the Barking Barley and Wheat Surprise I shared a few weeks back), look no further than my Low-Sodium, Onion-Free Vegetable Broth / Soup Stock!
Low-Sodium, Onion-Free Gravy
Ingredients
1/2 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic OR 1 tablespoon garlic powder (optional)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
4 teaspoons nutritional yeast
2-4 tablespoons Braggs Liquid Aminos OR 2-4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the garlic and saute over medium-low heat until the garlic is golden brown.
2. Remove from heat and mix in the whole wheat flour, nutritional yeast, and 2 tablespoons of the Braggs Liquid Aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce). This should result in a pasty mixture.
3. Returning the saucepan to the stovetop at medium heat, add the water and whisk until the paste has dissolved. Add in the sage and black pepper, as additional Braggs Liquid Aminos or soy sauce to taste.
4. If the gravy is too thin, add in a little extra flour; too thick, stir in a little extra water until the gravy is the desired consistency.
5. Use this gravy in dog food recipes that call for gravy, or pour a little over your dog-kid’s dry food for a special treat. Dog parents may enjoy this gravy recipe, too!
Low-Sodium, Onion-Free Vegetable Broth / Soup Stock
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic OR 1 tablespoon garlic powder (optional)
4 cups water
2 tablespoons parsley
4 teaspoons thyme
1 teaspoon marjoram
1 teaspoon rosemary
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried/dehydrated pepper seeds
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes (optional)
1 large carrot, sliced and diced into fine bits
1/2 white potato, without the skin, peeled into fine slices
Directions
1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Reduce the heat to medium-low and saute the minced garlic until it’s golden brown.
2. Add the water to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low.
3. Add the spices and seasonings – parsley, thyme, marjoram, rosemary, tomato paste, red wine vinegar – and whisk well.
4. Add the vegetables – sundried tomatoes, finely chopped carrots and white potato peels – and cook, covered, on low for approximately 60 to 90 minutes. Stir the pot every 10 minutes or so. Add additional seasonings to taste.
5. Once the veggies are tender, remove the saucepan from the stove and let cool. Use this low-sodium, onion-free veggie “broth” (not really a broth, what with the veggies and all) / soup “stock” (again, veggies!) in dog food recipes that call for vegetable broth or similar. If needed, you can freeze and save extras for future use.
Notes
So far I’ve made several variations of this recipe: all of them on the fly, each a little different from the next. For example, in addition to the spices listed above, I’ve also played around with molasses, basil and (a pinch of) cayenne.
Most likely, your preferences will change depending on the dish; I made this particular veggie stock for use in a German Shepherd’s Pie recipe. Molasses didn’t really seem appropriate for a “meat and potatoes” type dish, so I nixed it – even though it’s worked well in the past.
Feel free to experiment and adapt the recipe to your own liking (or, rather, your dog-kids’ liking!).
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Tagged: recipe recipes dog food food vegan veganism vegetarian vegetarianism gravy broth vegetable broth soup stock vegetables low-sodium onion-free dog canine pet companion animal animal companion my furkids flickr photos dog treats soup low-salt vegan dogs
